Perhaps West should have kept bidding—perfect play would allow him to take 10 tricks in a club contract. He fancied his cards for defence so he chose to try for a plus score by defending.
The ace of hearts lead won the first trick. West then cashed the ace of diamonds and the king of hearts before continuing with a low heart. Declarer ruffed in dummy and, certain that West would not have led the ace of diamonds from ace-queen doubleton, led a low diamond to his jack. This was a success, but what now?
Should South attempt to ruff his last heart, East would surely over-ruff and South would still have a club loser for down one. South could cash the ace of clubs and lead a club toward the queen to set that card up, but there was no entry to get to it for a heart discard. After some thought, declarer envisioned an end position that would allow him to bring home his contract.
South cashed the ace of spades followed by every one of his remaining diamonds, starting with the king to draw the last trump, of course. He came down to a three-card ending where he held the 10 of hearts and the ace-six of clubs. West had the queen of hearts and the king-nine of clubs, having cleverly discarded the jack of clubs on the last trump to try to mislead declarer. South made no mistake and exited with the 10 of hearts. West had to win and lead away from his king of clubs. Well played!
